Hermione's Forgotten
by RainAfflicted
Summary: My first FF, PLEASE R/R! Something Hermione let slip her mind may dramatically change life at Hogwarts for Harry and his friends...


Malicious laughter reverberated through the hall, bouncing off high ceilings and crashing repeatedly in Harry's tortured ears. He could make out the outline of a man laying out on the floor, but just barely-it was difficult to see much of anything because besides the fact that the room was dimly lit, they were surrounded on all sides by a tattered black veil, whipping steadily although there wasn't the slightest trace of wind. There was a skeletal, faceless figure standing over the man sprawled on the floor. It was this tall creature that was, somehow, laughing. Harry clapped his hands to his hears to block out the merciless sound. He took a deep breath-which only succeeded in filling him with a deeper feeling of fearful foreboding-and sprinted to the two figures, his eyes cast downward. Sirius's eyes were barely open, but open enough to catch Harry's. His long hair was matted with blood, and Harry had never seen someone looking so weak and vulnerable. The fierce laughter would not stop; Harry could hear nothing else. He had to bend double and read Sirius's lips to make out his next, his last, words. "Why, Harry? I always wanted the best for you." With a disturbing cry of anguish and a shock of pain in his shoulder, Harry Potter woke up sore and sweating on the rumbling floor of the Hogwarts' Express. Although this sudden change of scenery was one with fresh afternoon sunlight, he was clammy and shaking. Hermione's head poked anxiously over a brand-new copy of The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 6. Ron jumped in surprise-a slightly delayed reaction-as he looked down from the cloak he was trying to turn orange to find his friend suddenly on the floor of the train. "Er-you alright, mate? More dreams?" Hermione frowned at him, concerned but silent. Harry closed his eyes, momentarily retreating to that empty world behind one's eyelids, before opening them again to gaze into his best friends' anxious faces. "Uh-huh. Where are we?" He lifted himself back into the seat he had occupied moments before, the pain in his bumped shoulder making him groan. Hermione glanced out the window, then checked her watch. "I'm guessing we're roughly 45 minutes away. I was just about to wake you up. you should probably go change into your robes soon." Harry started to nod, and just then the compartment door slid open.  
A girl about Hermione's height stood there, her large hazel eyes giving a quick sweep over the compartment. She started to smile upon spotting Hermione, reaching up to sweep a lock of her long brown hair from her eyes. She had donned a long midnight-blue cloak over the black Hogwarts robes.  
Hermione smiled and jumped to greet her. The two girls embraced each other, both talking eagerly at the same time so both drowned out the other and neither could be heard.  
Ron coughed loudly, causing them both to switch their gaze to him, mouths shutting quickly. Ron blinked. "Who's this?" he asked, waving a hand at the pretty girl standing in the doorway."  
"Oh! I completely forgot to tell you!" she smacked her forehead with a self-scolding sigh. "Completely forgot!"  
"And?"  
"This," Hermione began, a grin spreading across her face-it grew wider with each word. "Is my sister."  
  
Ron blinked again, as if to refresh his mind and take this idea on in a new perspective. Harry stared.  
"Your what?"  
"Is that one of those. things girls call each other? Like one of those girl-talk codes or something?"  
Hermione waved a hand at him, snorting dismissively. The other girl was starting to look rather uncomfortable, shifting back and forth on the balls of her feet, seeming to become completely fascinated by the completely unremarkable floor. She looked up at Hermione, smiled awkwardly, and mumbled something about going to find the food trolley as she slipped back out of the compartment. Harry, rubbing his shoulder, chose to say nothing.  
"Why didn't you ever tell us you had a sister?" Ron asked incredulously.  
"I just. I don't know, I guess the subject never came up. She's been studying at Beauxbatons since I started here; my mum and dad thought we should be able to choose where we wanted to go and Jessica thought that Beauxbatons was the place for her. she's been staying with my aunt."  
It was Harry's turn to ask questions. "Why did she switch, then?"  
Hermione slid back onto her seat, putting the book she had dumped on the floor back in her lap. "She was having trouble at school. see, Jessica's a Stratulus-"  
"What-"  
"It means she sometimes picks up on the thoughts of people around her, completely at random.. It's really rare, and people there just haven't been very accepting lately. I mean, everyone's gone scared what with Voldemort's return-oh, please, Ron! You'll have to get used to his name eventually."  
He had just started to scowl at Hermione when, yet again, the compartment door slid open. Jessica entered, looking disconcerted, but this time she was not alone.  
Malfoy, for once alone, took place leaning against the doorway, looking around at them with his unforgettably annoying smirk. Ron curled his lip in disgust at the sight of the tall, silvery-blonde wizard. "What do you want?"  
Malfoy smiled his oily smile, raising an eyebrow at Ron. "I was just saying hello to your new friend here. Telling her that she could do better than an attention-hungry scar-head, a broke oaf, and a Mudblood-"  
At the word Mudblood, they all jumped up. It was Jessica herself, however, who reached Malfoy first.  
"STUPEFY!" she cried, glowering at Malfoy with intense dislike as he toppled to the floor.  
Harry and Ron grinned at her with satisfaction. "You'll fit in just fine here." 


End file.
